Remember how I posted about Thomas at 2 months and discussed him being colicky? Well these days, he's a totally different baby! At 4 months, we have moved past the colic and instead of getting hours worth of crying, we're getting lots of smiles and giggles and coos. I like those sounds much better!
He had his 4 month checkup this week and his second set of shots. He weighs 15.1 pounds and is as healthy as can be! He was a total flirt with the doctor and gave her LOTS of grins and laughs. He was not so fond of the nurse that gave him his shots. Katie Wynn sympathy cried for him (she didn't get any shots!).
He is becoming much more alert. He loves to watch Katie Wynn. The picture below is of him standing (assisted) by the coffee table while she opened her birthday presents.
When KW opened her new baby crib, we knew it was only a matter of time before Thomas found himself laying in it. He barely fit and wasn't very excited to be in it!
Thomas is the very happiest in the mornings. He is still sleeping swaddled up in his own room. He has become quite the little Houdini and can wiggle out of his swaddle. For the most part, he sleeps all the way through the night (from 7pm to between 5 and 6am). If we go in his room it is either to give him his paci back or re-swaddle him if he's come loose. He can roll from his stomach to his back but not the other way. We are about to switch to a zipadee-zip to see how he does sleeping in it (Katie Wynn slept in one of these from 5 months until about 22 months).
These pictures were taken the night we were at the ER (read more about that here). The little yellow hospital gown just about did me in. I hope he never has to wear a hospital gown again!
I snapped them post-bottle but pre-catheter so he was in an ok mood. After the catheter (to get a urine sample), his daddy was able to get him to sleep while I tried not to fall asleep on the hospital bed. I haven't been out past midnight in who knows how long and this was not really a fun reason to be!
These two pictures were taken the next days as he started feeling better. The one on the left was taken on Monday morning and you can tell from his eyes that he still doesn't feel great. By Monday evening (on the right), he was feeling so much better and acting more like himself.
These days Thomas is a huge fan of bath time. We have stopped doing bath sinks (much earlier than we did with KW) and instead lay him in very shallow water in the tub. Katie Wynn loves to watch and then she gets in (with more water) (and bubbles) right after him. He loves to be in the warm water and would be perfectly fine if he could stay and splash in it all day.
I have borrowed a swing from a friend and it's a complete game changer. It was like love at first swing for Thomas. I would seriously like to redo my maternity leave now that we have a swing and I could actually put him down somewhere!
The picture to the right is one of my favorites. Katie Wynn lined up all of her favorite babies. I cannot even begin to describe how much of a little mama she is. She pats on her babies (Thomas included!) and kisses them and puts them down for night-night all day long. Thomas is the first person she asks about in the mornings and when she gets home ("Where Thomath go?") and she tries so hard to share all of her food and drinks with him. For diaper changes, she always picks out an Elmo diaper for him because Elmo is her favorite (I have to remember to use the other character diapers when she's not around!).
We have started feeding him whole food at dinner time. We first gave him cereal about three weeks ago and he hated it. I thought it was the cereal so we began mixing in some stage 1 foods to give it some flavor. So far he's tried sweet potatoes, pears, and carrots. Aaaaand I don't think it was the cereal he hated. I think he just hates eating with a spoon in general. He won't close his mouth around the spoon so we have to scrape it off into his mouth and then stick his bottle in so he'll swallow it. It's quite the process and he cries all the way through it. Who could hate eating so much?? I don't know who he gets that from as his daddy and I both love to eat. Hopefully he starts learning to love the spoon soon!
Lately our bedtime routine has been me getting Thomas lotioned up and dressed after his bath while Matt bathes Katie Wynn and finishes her up. We usually finish first so Thomas sits in her chair and waits for her to finish her hemming and hawing around so they can have a bedtime story and go night-night. He loves to sit up and is getting better with his balance by the day. I think he'll be sitting up on his own very soon. He also still loves having his hands in his mouth and is in the major drooling stage. No teeth buds yet but maybe some will sprout soon?
I am trying to do his monthly pictures like I did for Katie Wynn but I am not doing a great job of getting them done right on time or putting much effort into them. Typical second child problems, huh? Here are the standard chalkboard sign ones for all four months of his life so far.
The next set I've been trying to do is him with his big sister. These are such a disaster. I'm only keeping them for the laughs they'll create when they're big and look back on them.
The third and final set is themed to go with the month, just like I did for Katie Wynn. These are the ones that make me feel like the biggest failure because I have only halfway tried on them. Hopefully once he starts sitting up and it gets easier to pose him I'll get motivated to try harder?
Watermelon = July? I think Katie Wynn's July picture had a watermelon with this galvanized tin too so I was trying to have it kinda match. He was so tiny though and couldn't sit up and it was too bright for him to really open his eyes. Ugh...I did I mention it was like a hundred degrees? I gave up quickly.
Pumpkin hat = October!
Swimming in August!
Golfing in September. I know September doesn't really make you think of golf but I just loved the pictures of him in this hat and I actually think his dad was playing golf when we took these, so it counts. :)
Here's a fun little side-by-side comparison of both Katie Wynn (left) and Thomas (right) in the exact same outfit. Katie Wynn was 2 months when she wore it and Thomas is 4 months in it. The pumpkin hat is definitely tighter on his head, and never mind that slight ruffle on bottom of the pants. :) I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to attempt to sit 2 babies that can't sit up on their own on a slick bench. That's why they're blurry...they're falling over and I'm hurrying to snap the picture before the face plant!
Even with all the chaos that comes with having two small kids this close in age, I still wouldn't change any of it for the world! Who knew Thomas was what we were missing to make our family complete? And to think I was so scared about Katie Wynn feeling replaced or not liking him. I think having Thomas is her favorite thing I've ever done for her! We have loved this little guy from day one, but now we are starting to really like him too! He brings us so much joy! :)
